ABOUT BOOK

Tobacco has become one of the most widely used and traded commodities on ~the planet. Reflecting contemporary anthropological interest in material culture ~studies, Anthropology of Tobacco makes the plant the centre of its own contentious, ~global story in which, instead of a passive commodity, tobacco becomes a ~powerful player in a global adventure involving people, corporations and public ~health. ~Bringing together a range of perspectives from the social and natural ~sciences as well as the arts and humanities, Anthropology of Tobacco weaves ~stories together from a range of historical, cross-cultural and literary sources ~and empirical research. These combine with contemporary anthropological ~theories of agency and cross-species relationships to offer fresh perspectives on ~how an apparently humble plant has progressed to world domination, and the ~consequences of it having done so. It also considers what needs to happen if, ~as some public health advocates would have it, we are seriously to imagine ‘a ~world without tobacco’. ~This book presents students, scholars and practitioners in anthropology, ~public health and social policy with unique and multiple perspectives on ~tobacco-human relations.